# Fermi surface topology and large magnetoresistance in the topological semimetal candidate PrBi

## TL;DR

This study investigates the Fermi surface topology and magnetoresistance in PrBi, revealing bulk-dominated transport with high mobility and large magnetoresistance, and explores potential surface Dirac fermion signatures.

## Contribution

It provides the first detailed experimental and theoretical analysis of PrBi's Fermi surface and magnetotransport properties, highlighting its topologically nontrivial characteristics.

## Key findings

- PrBi exhibits a large magnetoresistance (~4.4×10^4 at 2 K)
- Fermi surface consists of one electron and two hole pockets, consistent with DFT
- Transport is dominated by bulk bands, not surface states

## Abstract

We report a detailed magnetotransport study on single crystals of PrBi. The presence of $f$-electrons in this material raises the prospect of realizing a strongly correlated version of topological semimetals. PrBi shows a magnetic field induced metal insulator transition below $T \sim 20$ K and a very large magnetoresistance ($\approx 4.4 \times 10^4~$) at low temperatures ($T= 2$ K). We have also probed the Fermi surface topology by de Haas van Alphen (dHvA) and Shubnikov de Haas (SdH) quantum oscillation measurements complimented with density functional theory (DFT) calculations of the band structure and the Fermi surface. Angle dependence of the SdH oscillations have been carried out to probe the possible signature of surface Dirac fermions. We find three frequencies corresponding to one electron ($\alpha$) and two hole ($\beta$ and $\gamma$) pockets in experiments, consistent with DFT calculations. The angular dependence of these frequencies is not consistent with a two dimensional Fermi surface suggesting that the transport is dominated by bulk bands. Although the transport properties of this material originate from the bulk bands, the high mobility and small effective mass are comparable to other compounds in this series proposed as topologically nontrivial.